Golf: Baker drives club swing

PASSIONATE PUTTER: Mount Gambier Golf Club president Dwayne Baker has made countless improvements to the club – with the help of committee members and volunteers – during his first two years on the job, including a new golf buggy shed. Picture: JAMES MURPHY

MOUNT Gambier Golf Club president Dwayne Baker has had a big impact in his first two years in the job.

He has taken the club from regular financial losses, to more than $16,000 profit this year.

“We have had a lot of lean years here,” he said.

“The last two years we have posted profits for the first time in a very long time, so it is been a really good effort.

“We have had to make some hard decisions, but since then we have been able to go back to the old club structure, where we get our hands dirty.”

That is a mantra Baker has based his presidency on and said “if you belong to a sporting club you have got to be part of it, not just turn up and go home”.

But rather than just cutting costs, he has managed to spend on necessary improvements, boosting morale around the club along the way.

“The infrastructure here was getting very old and tired, it needed to be redone,” he said.

“We spent roughly about $380,000 on a new water system and around $60,000 on a new buggy shed.

“We have re-roofed and generally started to improve the infrastructure around the whole golf club, course and buildings.

“We have only just started, but it has been a very positive start.”

Around $70,000 has also been spent on new machinery for working the course.

However, the next step for the club is one Baker is excited about.

Working alongside the committee, Baker has arranged for a course enhancement plan to be put in place, which will see acclaimed golf course architecture Neil Crafter come down and evaluate the course.

“Neil Crafter from Crafter and Mogford Golf Strategies will come down and review the golf course,” Baker said.

“We’ll talk about what we want to do going forward.

“It is basically like re-bonding your kitchen, it is looking at the golf course and improving it for the future.

“On Tuesday we signed the bottom line to get that started.”

Despite his success in the top job, Baker remains humble and said a strong line of support has been the key to success.

“It is not me, it is our committee,” he said.

“It is not just one person, there are 10 of us.

“Then outside that 10 we have a large group of volunteers who really get behind what we do.

“It is definitely not a one-man show.”

Having just finished his first term in the role, Baker has signed on for another two-year stint, which if as productive as his first, the club is set for continued growth.

Baker’s passion for the sport is undeniable, a member at the MGGC for just under 20 years, with five years on the committee, along with nine years on the Golf South East local governing association.

“I spent about two years on the committee previously,” he said.

“I was also the club junior coordinator for probably four to five years officially, but looked after the juniors for six or seven years.

“I then spent nine years on the local governing association body for Golf South East, where I was junior coordinator and president for the last two years.

“This involved travelling all around South Australia with junior teams for things like country championships and the Brett Ogle Cup.”

Since then, Baker has returned to the committee, where his impact now as president is clear.

If having such a hands-on approach is not enough, Baker also owns two businesses, which he said can be difficult at times, but he would not change a thing.

“It is not easy,” he said.

“Let’s just say I manage.

“I have got two businesses and I’m in trouble with the wife quite often, but we make it work.

“I do not drink, do not smoke, do not gamble, so golf is my hobby.”

Baker’s passion for golf did not really spark until one of his sons picked up the sport, but he said it had been an interest since he used to play casually with workmates.

“It would have been probably my early 20’s, being a shift worker, with the boys at work we’d just go out for a hit on days off,” he said.

“It just started that way and progressed from there.

“One of my sons started to get involved in junior golf so I got involved myself.

“Then it started to go to the next level, with committees and governing associations and I was even on the Golf South Australia country committee for a time.”

With his enthusiastic approach driving the continued improvement to the club and facilities, Baker’s next stint as president will likely reap similar rewards to his first.